(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Jeroen van Beek, a computer researcher at the University of Amsterdam, has shown in some tests conducted for The Times that the new micro-chipped passports, introduced in UK to protect against terrorism and organised crime, can be easily cloned.

The researcher has succeeded in cloning the chips of two British passports in which he introduced the pictures of Osama bin Laden and a suicide bomber and in passing the cloned chips as genuine through Golden Reader, which is the standard passport reader software used by the UN agency setting standards for e-passports and which is also recommended for use at airports. The cloning operation took less than an hour. Van Beek developed his cloning

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Remember the movie 'Das Leben der Anderen' (The Lives of Others), where a Stasi agent was monitoring a playwriter's life? This doesn't translate anymore in French into 'La vie des autres', but rather into EDVIGE, the name of a newly created database to be used by French intelligence services and the administrative police.

EDVIGE will file "individuals, groups, organisations and moral persons which, due to their individual or collective activity, are likely to attempt to public order". Not only these persons will be filed (without any offence committed), but also "those who undertake or have undertaken direct and non fortuitous relations with them." Filing starts at age 13.

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Two French associations, EDRi-member Imaginons un réseau internet solidaire (IRIS) and Ligue des droits de l'Homme (LDH), have filed a complaint against the French government before the highest administrative Court. They ask the French Conseil d'État to annul the decree issued on 30 April 2008 by the French government on biometric passports.

The associations consider the decree had been issued under an irregular procedure by publishing the Opinion in the Official Journal 6 days after the decree had been published, instead of presenting them at the same time, as required by law.

The provisions of the decree stipulate the collection of eight fingerprints for passport applicants starting with 6 years old children and the creation

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Ignoring the opinion of the French Data Protection Authority - the National Commission for Information and Liberties (CNIL), on 4 May 2008, the French Government passed a decree on the basis of which the French citizens will have biometric passports that will include eight fingerprints and a digital picture. The data will be introduced in a large national database.

Although symbolical, CNIL's opinion should have been published alongside with such a decree in the Official Journal. The Government's decree went against CNIL's unfavourable opinion given on 11 December 2007 which was published a week after the decree. Alex Türk, president of CNIL reinforced the commission's position on 16 May 2008, on the occasion of the

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Starting this summer, the UK Border Agency will use facial recognition technology at automated unmanned gates. A machine would accept or reject the match between the scan and the computer information on people with biometric passports.

The pilot project will be open to UK and EU citizens holding new biometric passports. "We think a machine can do a better job (than manned passport inspections). What will the public reaction be? Will they use it? We need to test and see how people react and how they deal with rejection. We hope to get the trial up and running by the summer" said Gary Murphy, head of operational design and development for the UK Border Agency, during a biometrics-related conference that took place in London in April 2008.

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

In spite of the recommendation of the European Data Protection Supervisor, Peter Hustinx, that the minimum age for fingerprinting should be 14, a spokesperson from the European Commission (EC) expressed on 2 April 2008 the EC intention to push for fingerprinting children starting at the age of six, in order to include the information in the biometric passports.

Jacques Barrot, the Justice, Freedom and Security Commissioner, considered that "The proposals we put forward are balanced ones", explaining that fingerprinting was an important tool in fighting human trafficking.

During the meeting on 12 February 2008 the high-level Strategic Committee on Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum (SCIFA)/Mixed Committee discussed the age

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

EDRi-member Chaos Computer Club (CCC) - Germany has published in the latest issue of their magazine Die Datenschleuder the fingerprint of one of the best known proponents of digital fingerprints in passports - Mr. Wolfgang Schäuble, the German Minister of Internal Affairs. The fingerprint has been printed on a plastic foil, that can replicate the fingerprint when it is pressed on a biometric reader.

CCC activists wanted to make a point in their fight against digital fingerprints in any ID document, considering such data is easy to collect and reproduce. Despite the numerous warnings, since November 2007 the German passports have included a biometric chip containing fingerprints that can be

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

EDPS Opinion on biometrics in passports: exemptions welcomed but unsatisfactory

The EDPS welcomes the introduction of exemptions from giving fingerprints based on the age of the person or his/her inability to provide fingerprints. These exemptions are part of the fallback procedures that should be implemented. However, the EDPS still considers these exemptions as insufficient to remedy the imperfections of biometrics, such as the impact of misidentification or failure to enrol.

Peter Hustinx, EDPS, says: "The fact that the Commission took into account the need for fallback procedures, stated in previous opinions, is more than welcomed. These exemptions are however still unsatisfactory. They fail to

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

Mr. Richard Thomas, UK Information Commissioner warned Heathrow airport operator BAA that the plans to fingerprint all passengers at the new Terminal 5 may breach the UK Data Protection Act.

The 5.5 billion euro worth Terminal 5 was opened by the Queen on 16 March and is due to receive its first passengers on 27 March 2008. The airport plans to apply security measures that involve fingerprinting all passengers including domestic ones claiming fingerprinting was necessary so that all passengers could mix freely in Terminal 5 shopping mall area. Fingerprinting is already being applied for domestic passengers at Terminal 1. The passengers place a hand on a scanner which records four fingerprints and

(Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar)

A set of new measures including biometric data from non-EU travellers are being proposed these days by the European Commission (EC). The proposals, drafted by Franco Frattini, the European Commissioner for Justice, Freedom and Security, are being put forward by the EC, arguing that the cross-border policy has to be revised to face the new challenges related to terrorism, organised crime and illegal migration.

The package proposes the creation of an entry/exit register of non-European visitors to the EU bloc that will record the dates of entry and exit of each non-EU individual admitted to the Schengen visa-free area using biometric identifiers. In cases when a person's visa has expired, an alert can be